Adult Education State Staff Members are key players in the delivery of quality adult education and literacy and college and career readiness services. The work is complex—requiring expertise in specific content areas (e.g., adult literacy, ESOL, adult secondary, corrections education) as well as management and leadership functions (e.g., managing state-wide initiatives, technical assistance to low performing programs, creating blended learning systems). And those requirements change with changing federal and state regulations and the needs of adult learners. That has never been more the case than today, due to the sweeping changes imposed by WIOA.

Until now there have been few professional development opportunities to help state staff gain and/or hone the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to perform their ever changing job demands.

That is why the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium (NAEPDC), CLEE (the Center for Literacy, Education and Employment at the University of Tennessee) and the NAEPDEC State Staff Workgroup have joined forces to offer the State Staff Leadership Excellence Academies (LEA). The pilot for this initiative was completed in May of 2016. We invite you to browse through the pilot booklet to learn more about this program. Check back here later in 2016 for more information about the full rollout, and/or contact Stacey Wright for more information.